In recent years, we have seen NBA All-Star Game ratings dramatically decline for one reason or another. As a result, the league is playing around with the format of the game, which may soon be due for another change.
After five years of the NBA trying out player captains picking teams, the league opted to revert back to the classic East-West format for the 2024 All-Star Weekend. This resulted in a slight ratings bump from the record-low in 2023, but seemingly not enough for the classic format to stick.
For the 2025 All-Star Game this Sunday, the league will be changing things up yet again. This time, instead of one singular All-Star Game, there will be three games in a tournament-style bracket with teams that were selected by Inside the NBA personalities Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, and Candace Parker.
Barkley’s “Global Stars” team will first face off against Smith’s “Young Stars” team. The winner of that game will then face the winner of O’Neal’s “OGs” team and Parker’s “Rising Stars”, which will comprise of the winners of a separate mini tournament that is replacing the traditional Rising Stars Game.
We will see later this week whether the new format will draw any kind of significant interest. But on paper, one could argue that the tournament-style format adds some unneeded confusion to an event NBA fans once enjoyed for the simplicity of seeing the best basketball players in the world face off against one another.
During an appearance on the Murph and Markus Show on KNBR Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed optimism for the new format. But he did interestingly hint that there is a potential for another format change in the future where we could see a Team USA versus Team World akin to the Ryder Cup in golf.
“I actually think it’s gonna be really exciting,” said Silver of the 2025 format. “I think it’s gonna be something different. You know, things are also cyclical. So now that we moved to that format, it’s not unimaginable to me that in a few years people will be longing for the traditional format. Even the players will be saying, ‘Let’s go back to the East vs West.’ People have talked about doing a Ryder Cup approach. Let’s do U.S. versus International players. That’s something we have thought a lot about.”
“I’ve talked to Steph and many of the perennial All-Stars, none of them were proud of what you saw last year… I’m hopeful for this year. We can get something that can be really fun and exciting for fans to watch.”
Adam Silver told @knbrmurph & @MarkusBoucher he’s confident… pic.twitter.com/Gj9nmaPbZx
— KNBR (@KNBR) February 11, 2025
On Wednesday, the topic of a Team USA-Team International game was discussed on FanDuel TV’s Run it Back Show featuring Michelle Beadle, Chandler Parsons, and Lou Williams. Parsons, in particular, shared that he believes with as many global superstars as there are in the NBA nowadays, the time to make this format change is now.
“If you rank the top players in the NBA right now, they have the top four,” said Parsons of the hypothetical Team International.
Lou Williams acknowledged that fact, but also shared his opinion that the USA team would have a significant advantage in overall depth of roster.
“Yeah, but they would get their a** whooped as soon as they go to their bench,” said Williams. “Let’s be real. The moment they go to their bench, they are getting whooped. Listen, you have got guys on the World team that can’t make the real team. For that, that puts them at a disadvantage.”
Parsons then shared his opinion that the sheer fact that the topic was discussed as heavily as they did means that it would be a great idea for the NBA to pursue this format.
“You know how I know this will be a good idea? Because look at how spicy we just got talking about who is gonna win,” replied Parsons.
Adam Silver says USA vs. The World is a real possibility in the future 👀 who would you take in a game featuring today’s global stars?? @MichelleDBeadle | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/rPBBRHUFUI
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) February 12, 2025
Given the kind of impact the likes Luka Dončić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, and Victor Wenbanyama have made since arriving in the NBA, it sure seems like the balance of power in the NBA between the U.S. players and the international players appears to be shifting.
As Parsons alluded to, maybe this change is exactly what the NBA needs to do to bring intrigue back to what has been a rather lifeless NBA All-Star Weekend in recent years.
